New U-16 GNT Kicks Off 2015 Programming at U.S. Soccer NTC

U-16 GNTFeb 7, 2015

CHICAGO (Feb, 7, 2015) – U.S. Soccer will hold an Under-16 Girls’ National Team camp for the first time since 2007, when that age group was absorbed into the U-17 program in preparation for the first FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008.

The reinstitution of the U-16s is part of an overall increase in programming for U.S. Soccer’s Youth National Teams that includes additions of a U-19 Women’s National Team for the first time since 2004, after which FIFA switched the world championship for that age group to U-20s.

Twenty-four players have been called to the camp, running from Feb. 15-22 at the U.S. Soccer National Team Training Center in Carson, California. All but one was born in 2000, with defender Kennedy Wesley as the lone 2001.

At this camp the U-16s will be guided by new Women’s Development Coach Tricia Taliaferro, who is U.S. Soccer’s main scout for the ’00 birth year. Her staff will include U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director April Heinrichs, as well as Head Development Coach April Kater and newly hired Development Coaches Mark Carr and Jitka Klimkova, who are all focused on specific birth year scouting and guiding U.S. Soccer’s comprehensive Training Center schedule across the nation.

All of the players in this camp are age-eligible for the next FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2016, but the main birth year for that tournament is 1999.

This age group is starting a two-year cycle before becoming the U-18s and then the U-20s with the goal of playing in the 2020 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.